Use figures of speech. Figures of speech are tricks of language that are not intended to be taken literally. When I say, “I’m so hungry, I could eat a dinosaur,” I do not expect you to believe that I could actually consume an entire brontosaurus. When you say, “The sky is a blanket of stars,” no one thinks you mean someone has literally draped a giant quilt across the heavens. Figures of speech are colorful and creative ways of making a point, of adding vibrancy to your writing. They are most often found in poetry and narrative fiction, but there’s no reason why carefully selected figures of speech cannot be used to add color and force to expository and persuasive writing as well.

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